De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  The SSPX crisis cannot be understood through caricature. Many Catholics instinctively recognise the reality of the collapse in catechesis, liturgy and ecclesial confidence which the Society of Saint Pius X has spent decades warning about. That is precisely why this present moment is so dangerous. In my latest article I argue that the deepest problem posed by the SSPX is not that everything they say is false. It is that much of what they say contains enough truth to persuade serious Catholics. But has permanent resistance now begun evolving into something more troubling? Is a movement originally formed to preserve Catholic Tradition gradually drifting toward a parallel ecclesial mentality in which the visible Church herself is increasingly viewed with suspicion? I explore: • the growing crisis of trust in ecclesial authority • the “state of necessity” argument • the dangerous rhetoric now emerging around the consecrations • Donatist parallels and remnant ecclesiology • why the exi...

  In this episode of Catholic Unscripted, we were contacted by a viewer to discuss the promotion of abortion on the Graham Norton chat show on BBC 1. We talk about the way abortion has become mainstream in the UK and ask why it's not more of a priority for our bishops (rather than climate change!). We also discuss Pope Francis' attempt to frame tradition as infidelity which I wrote about here .

Pope Francis has made his most direct attack yet on faithful Catholics in his homily during a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 10, marking the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. Using a passage from St. John’s Gospel – “Do you love me? Feed my sheep” – Francis launched his attack on traditional Catholics. Extraordinarily ironic, given he is directly responsible for the closure of Traditional Parishes like the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago , thereby literally and directly starving his flock of the Sacraments. It is when Pope Francis uses Scripture to justify his outrages I feel most aggrieved.  In this homily, the pope said “we are always tempted to start from ourselves rather than from God, to put our own agendas before the Gospel,” he decried those who wished to “retrace our steps.” The pope consistently seems to miss the whole point of traditional Catholic worship which accentuates the transcendent nature of God. As he is always praising...

Another excellent video presentation from Brian. Here he addresses the most frustrating and universal issue in the Catholic Church - and probably Christianity today. Everywhere I look, I see a truth reflected in existential reality: the progressive agenda has failed. Despite this undeniable truth, it seems the purveyors of progressive ideology see only one reason for this: we are not progressive enough! They reach this conclusion despite the clear evidence that the only growth is in places where we hold fast to the truth and the Traditions of our faith. Brian starts this video by stating a self-evident truth: one thing we should be able to easily recognize is that something needs to change in the Church – and fast. Every survey out there reminds us that there is a crisis of faith as numbers are dramatically declining, successive generations are walking away, vocations are plummeting, and scandals seem to preoccupy all our attention. He goes on to give evidence that the only except...

"Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose." ~ 1 Cor 1:10 Some valuable commentary on "Tranditionalism" & Sedevacantivism: "God will never ask us 'Why didn't you leave the Catholic Church and start your own Church?'"

In private meeting with Jesuits on his recent trip to the Baltics, Pope Francis said: "I believe the Lord wants a change in the Church. I know that the Lord wants the [Second Vatican] Council to make headway in the Church" The assertion from Pope Francis comes in a transcript by fellow Jesuit, legendary Papal tailgater & anti-intellectual Antonio Spadaro in the magazine he is editor for. You can read the whole thing here , but I would warn you, it is very boring, and consists largely of Pope Francis' usual meaningless banal mutterings. It does start with this weirdness: Thank you for the visit! I’m reminded of the saying Si cum Iesuitis itis, non cum Iesu itis … (If you go with the Jesuits, you won’t go with Jesus…) [here they all laugh]. Obviously I was immediately reminded of his quip that he is the devil compared with Pope St. John Paul II. Personally, given what a nightmare he is as a pope, I don't find his attempts at self-deprecating humour ter...

Just keep up with modern secular society... A theme I constantly refer to is the evidence around us for what works in building the Church and what does not work. I try to always base this on facts and evidence, but the basic conviction that there is a right and a wrong way to do things comes from my own experience growing up Catholic. The lack of instruction I received and the ensuing confusion about what it meant to be Catholic, coupled with a growing sense of meaninglessness based on the platitudes of niceness which constituted most of that experience. Why believe in something that is meaningless? Why argue about ancient truths is they don't matter in application in any case? If they merely constitute a 'nice' way of looking at things? There had to be more to this Christian thing than that! Didn't lots of people die rather than renounce these beliefs once? Discovering that being Christian was important, that it had a real, powerful effect on the choices you...

+Guglielmo Borghetti I was really shocked to read reports of the newly appointed bishop of the Italian Diocese of Albenga-Imperia, Guglielmo Borghetti, who has been appointed to replace Bishop Mario Oliveri. Given the well known sympathy in the diocese for the Traditions of the Church, Bishop Borghetti has said he intends to wipe-out East facing liturgy. He is reported as having condemned ‘false altars’ facing away from people as ‘nostalgia for the past’.  Interesting given Cardinal Sarah's call to say Mass orientated to the Lord and Pope Emeritus' Benedict XVI's recent affirmation of that call to re-orientation in L‘Osservatore Romano   (comments which were, perhaps, blown a little out of proportion by Lifesite News here , but are, nonetheless, accurately his thoughts on the matter). Of course, some other prelates disagree with this ...More on that further down. Bishop Borghetti has been Bishop Oliveri's Coadjutor Bishop since March 2015 . Borghetti...

CC Father has recommended Catholics by Brian Moore for me to read. Most of the action of the novel takes place on an island monastery in Kerry off the southwest coast of Ireland. It is set in the future, near the end of the twentieth century after the Fourth Vatican Council. The story tells of a young priest sent by the authorities in Rome to fully implement Church reforms in an Irish monastery that still celebrates the Catholic liturgy according to older rites.   I've just got to a bit where an old Irish Monk, Fr. Manus, explains to Fr. Kinsella, the young priest, why he has been saying the Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It's really rather stirring and instructive, so I thought I would share it here: The Mass! The Mass in Latin, the priest with his back turned to the congregation because both he and the congregation faced the altar where God was. Offering up the daily sacrifice of the Mass to God. Changing bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ the wa...

Fr. Ray Blake made some really interesting observations at the beginning of July regarding the lack of action currently on Catholic blogs. “Most Catholics but especially clergy want to be loyal to the Pope in order to maintain the unity of the Church,” he said. “Today that loyalty is perhaps best expressed through silence.” Fr. Ray's thinking is that in the previous pontificate “there was a solidity and certainty in Benedict's teaching which made discussion possible and stimulated intellectual honesty, one knew where the Church and the Pope stood.” He added, “Today we are in less certain times, the intellectual life of the Church is thwart with uncertainty.” Cardinal Raymond Burke suggested a different approach recently. Cardinal Burke, who serves as head of the Vatican’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura , the Pope has made a strategic decision to focus on making the Church appealing, and thus bishops and priests “are even more compelled to underline these teach...

Michael Voris has finally admitted that there is a "new" Catholic Church emerging. Has he finally capitulated to modernism? Has he decided that progress is, after all, inevitable? He explains all about the new emerging Church in his latest Vortex episode. Travelling around the world, meeting and speaking with groups of faithful Catholics has given him excellent insight into what is going on inside the Church all around the globe: As I have said before, I think Voris is a bit like a modern day Old Testament prophet. His message is often really uncomfortable, but his focus is always about supernatural faith, against error, and for God and His Church. His articulation of the concerns of so many who contact me: the confounding of the orthodox, the lauding of heterodox by Church establishment, the apathy of bishops, the way that being good, and loyal, and faithful- supporting more reverence and catechesis, only seems to get you into lots of hot water with the diocese. T...

This has really had me thinking over the weekend. On Saturday, I read on Rorate Caeli that Pope Francis had commented to Czech Bishops on their ad limina visit that the growing call for the old Mass throughout the world was nothing more than a fad: Yesterday (Friday, Feb. 14), Pope Francis held an audience with the Bishops of the Czech Republic who came to Rome for their ad limina visit. In the visit, as it usually happens in such cases, other than the formal address, the Pope heard the questions and comments of the bishops. Archbishop Jan Graubner, of Olomouc, told the Czech section of Vatican Radio what the Pope told him: [Abp. Jan Graubner speaks:] When we were discussing those who are fond of the ancient liturgy and wish to return to it, it was evident that the Pope speaks with great affection, attention, and sensitivity for all in order not to hurt anyone. However, he made a quite strong statement when he said that he understands when the old generation returns to what i...

This  post at  Rorate Caeli  is well worth reading if, like me, are concerned about the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate , it's been a difficult week. The post debunks a report from Michael J. Miller in the Catholic World Report  attempts to address the speculation about the order. Basically, the worry is that the Vatican is censuring the order for attachment to traditionalism. Apparently, five priests complained about the traditional direction the order was taking and as a result their ability to say mass in the extraordinary form, as guaranteed under Summorum Pontificum was suspended. At the time, assurances were given that this was simply to make sure that those in the order that did not prefer the EF did not have it unfairly forced upon them. Many people were shocked by this, but understood the need for fairness for all in this matter and took a wait and see approach. I was sure Rorate Caeli had it wrong, and chose to trust Pope Francis and the Vatican ...

Further to the recent terrible news of the shooting in Colorado at a screening of the new Batman film  there has been a considerable amount of discussion regarding whether the perpetrator, James Holmes, should face the death penalty or not. I became involved in a discussion with some friends, who were adamant that Homes should be killed for what he had done. Certainly I share their disgust at his crimes, but consider the death penalty to be something we do not employ in civilised society. As a Catholic, I also consider it broadly disconsonant with the fundamental dignity of all human life. I also think the Church teaches us that it is a broadly unacceptable course of action today. During the discourse, all kinds of arguments were employed to try and justify recourse to capital punishment, quoting the Council of Trent for example, and suggesting that the teaching of the Church does not change. This is correct of course, the Church's teaching does not change, but it does deve...